1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus adapted to receive a portable electronic card, for example a payment card or a credit card, which apparatus comprises a housing provided with an opening for introducing the card, the latter being provided with at least one integrated circuit comprising a memory by means of which a data transfer can be established in that the card is inserted into the housing, the said housing being provided with a movable part which is taken along by the card and serves as an intermediary for establishing an electrical connection between the card and a circuit outside the card during the data processing.
2. Prior Art
Apparatus of the kind defined above are described, for example, in French Patent Nos. FR-A-445560, FR-A-2415378 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,345. According to these patents, the apparatus comprises a movable part displaced by the introduction of the card and carrying contacts which will be applied to the card under the influence of a displacement of the movable part.
In this type of apparatus, the contacts connected to the movable part are themselves movable and a difficulty is involved in connecting these movable contacts to an external electronic circuit fixed to the housing. The connection can be established by flexible wires, as indicated in French patent No. FR-A-2445560 (Ref. 40 - FIG. 2B) and in French patent No. FR-A-2415378 (Ref. 4a, 4b, FIGS. 1 and 2). At the stage of manufacture, these devices require that numerous wires be prepared and the two ends of each wire be connected, for example by soldering or by means of a connector. These numerous connections are expensive and they create moreover possible sources of errors. Another solution is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,345, in which laminations (22) connected to the movable part (10) get into contact with fixed parts (26) at the end of the path of the movable part. This has the disadvantage that a supplementary non-soldered contact is introduced, which increases the risk of false contacts.